5.  The applicants were born in 1950 and 1987 respectively and live in Makhachkala. The applicants are the mother and the wife of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov (in the documents submitted also written as Abdurashidov), who was born in 1985.
6.  The second applicant and her husband Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov have lived in Moscow since 2008. In the middle of June 2010 the second applicant went to Makhachkala to visit her relatives. On 24 June 2010 her husband Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov arrived from Moscow, and on the same date they went to visit Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov’s sister Ms F.Sh. at 29 Sovetskaya Street in Kaspiysk, Dagestan.
7.  The first applicant and her husband, a federal judge of the Leninskiy District Court in Makhachkala, lived at 11 Gadzhiyeva Street, Makhachkala.
(b)  Events in Makhachkala
8.  At about 8 p.m. on 25 June 2010 a group of five officers from the Sovetskiy district department of the interior in Makhachkala (the Sovetskiy ROVD) arrived at the first applicant’s house. One of them, who identified himself as Shamil, showed the first applicant arrest warrant no. 6/3-3726 issued in the name of her son Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov and signed by Captain A. Plugin, the investigator of the Investigative Committee of the Federal Security Service (the FSB). According to the warrant, Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov was suspected, amongst other things, of involvement in terrorist activities.
(c)  Events in Kaspiysk
9.  Meanwhile, on 25 June 2010 the second applicant and her husband Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov were visiting their relative Ms F.Sh. in Kaspiysk. At about 9 p.m. on that date, a group of five to seven men, some of whom were in black masks, arrived at the house of Ms F.Sh. in a black VAZ-2107 (‘Приора’) car with the registration number containing the numbers 256 or 259 and the letters PH. One of them told the second applicant that they were from the police. The men abducted Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov next to the house, in the street. First they fired shots at his feet, then they knocked him down, dragged him into the car and drove off. The abduction took place in broad daylight and in the presence of a number of witnesses, including neighbours and the applicants’ relatives.
10.  Shortly after the abductors’ departure, several police officers in uniform and plain clothes arrived at the scene of the shooting in two police cars; without giving any explanation they collected the cartridge cases left after the incident.
11.  The Government did not dispute the applicants’ account of the circumstances of the abduction, stating that it “does not contradict the information collected by the authorities during the course of the investigation”.
12.  At about 9 p.m. on 25 June 2010, immediately after the incident, the second applicant in Kaspiysk called the first applicant in Makhachkala and informed her about the abduction.
13.  In the morning of 26 June 2010 the first applicant complained about the abduction to the Dagestan FSB and the Dagestan Prosecutor’s office. She stated that on the date of the abduction she had been visited by a group of five officers from the Sovetskiy ROVD who had showed her a warrant for her son’s arrest issued by the FSB Captain A. Plugin; that shortly after their visit the second applicant had called her from Kaspiysk and told her about the abduction of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov by a group of armed men who had opened fire and that shortly after the incident a group of police officers had collected the cartridge cases left at the scene.
14.  On 28 June 2010 the Dagestan FSB replied to the first applicant that they had forwarded her complaint to the Dagestan Prosecutor’s office. On 29 June 2010 the latter informed her that they had forwarded the complaint to the Kaspiysk prosecutor’s office.
15.  On 28 June 2010 the first applicant complained about the abduction to the Dagestan Ministry of the Interior (the MVD), and provided a detailed description of the circumstances surrounding the abduction, including the police officers’ visit to her house and the collection of the cartridge cases after the abductors’ departure. On 5 August 2010 the Dagestan MVD informed her that they had forwarded her complaint to the Kaspiysk town department of the interior (the GOVD).
16.  On 6 July 2010 the Kaspiysk prosecutor’s office informed the first applicant that they had forwarded her complaint to their investigations department for a preliminary inquiry.
17.  Between 13 and 19 July 2010 the Kaspiysk prosecutor’s office forwarded eleven requests to various law-enforcement agencies, asking them to establish the whereabouts of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov and inform them about his possible detention and the reason for it. They also asked for a copy of the arrest warrant used by the police officers from the Sovetskiy ROVD and for information on whether Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov had been involved in extremist or illegal activities.
18.  On 15 July 2010 the first applicant complained about the abduction to the Kaspiysk prosecutor’s office and asked whether a criminal case had been opened to investigate the incident, and if so what was the progress of the proceedings.
19.  On the same date, 15 July 2010 the first applicant again lodged a complaint about her son’s abduction with the investigations department of the Kaspiysk prosecutor’s office. The complaint stated, amongst other things, that the abduction had been perpetrated by police officers in broad daylight and in the presence of numerous witnesses. The applicant asked the authorities to take urgent steps to investigate and to protect her son. In particular, she requested the investigators to take the following measures: granting her victim status in the criminal case; questioning a number of eyewitnesses to the abduction, including the second applicant, Ms F.Sh., Ms D.A., Ms S.G., and Ms R.A.; establishing whether any criminal charges had been pending against Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov and whether he had been on the authorities’ wanted list; identification of the five police officers who had visited the applicant in Makhachkala on 25 June 2010 and seizure of the warrant signed by Captain A. Plugin; identification of the latter and of the abductors’ car.
20.  On 16 July 2010 the first applicant requested the Kaspiysk prosecutor’s office to take additional investigative steps to establish her son’s whereabouts. In particular, she asked them to request information from various detention centres in Dagestan in case Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov had been detained there, and to initiate a criminal investigation into the abduction.
21.  On 16 July 2010 the applicants’ lawyer complained to the FSB investigator Captain A. Plugin about the abduction and the warrant used by the police officers from the Sovetskiy ROVD. The complaint gave a detailed description of the incident and stated that the officers had showed the first applicant a warrant allegedly signed by him. On 23 August 2010 Captain A. Plugin replied stating “... no orders to detain Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov have been given to the Sovetskiy ROVD ...” and that the applicants should complain about the abduction to the prosecutor’s office.
22.  On 17 July 2010 the first applicant again complained to the head of the Dagestan FSB and the Dagestan Prosecutor (see paragraph 13 above). She asserted that Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov had been abducted by police or FSB officers from Dagestan, and requested the law-enforcement agencies to assist her in establishing his whereabouts.
23.  On 19 July 2010 the first applicant complained to the Russian Prosecutor General. She provided a detailed description of the circumstances surrounding the abduction and stressed that the warrant under outgoing no. 6/3-3726 allegedly signed by Captain A. Plugin could have been forged by the police officers. She also stated that the abductors had told the second applicant that they were from the police and that all her efforts to establish her son’s whereabouts by complaining to local law‑enforcement agencies had not produced any tangible results. The applicant further stated that she had learned from an unidentified source that on 25 June 2010 a special operation had been conducted by the police or the FSB officers against her son, and requested the authorities to carry out an effective investigation of the incident.
24.  On 21 July 2010 the first applicant again complained about the abduction to the Dagestan FSB. On 30 July 2010 they replied to her that her complaint had been forwarded to the Dagestan Prosecutor’s office.
25.  On 5 August 2010 the first applicant complained to the head of the Russian FSB. She stated that her son had been abducted by members of law-enforcement agencies and that the responses received by her from the Dagestan FSB had not provided any meaningful information. The applicant asked whether any criminal proceedings were pending against her son, whether he was suspected of a crime, and whether Captain A. Plugin had issued the order for her son’s arrest. She also requested to be informed about her son’s whereabouts and the reasons for his detention. On an unspecified date in August 2010 the Russian FSB replied to the applicant stating that her son had not been charged with any offence and that they had not ordered the Sovetskiy ROVD to detain him.
26.  On 11 August 2010 the first applicant complained to the Russian Prosecutor General, the head of the Russian FSB and the head of the Russian MVD about the unlawful detention of her son Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov by members of law-enforcement agencies. She also requested to be informed whether her son was a suspect in criminal case no. 17822, and if so what charges had been brought against him.
27.  On 13 August 2010 the applicants’ lawyer requested information from the Dagestan Prosecutor’s office concerning the criminal charges against Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov and the place of his unlawful detention.
28.  On 20 August 2010 the applicants again complained about the abduction to the Dagestan Prosecutor and the Dagestan MVD. They stated that local law-enforcement agencies had consistently denied any involvement in the abduction of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov, but the head of the Sovetskiy ROVD had told them that their relative had been detained by ROVD officers and handed over to the Dagestan Centre for Terrorism Counteraction (the CTC) (“Центр по противодействию экстремизму и терроризму МВД РФ по РД”). However, according to the applicants, the latter agency had denied detaining Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov.
29.  On an unspecified date in August 2010 the Dagestan Council of Judges complained on the applicants’ behalf to the head of the Russian FSB and the Russian Minister of the Interior. The complaint stated that the abduction of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov had most probably been perpetrated by members of law-enforcement agencies, officers of the Sovetskiy ROVD in particular, and that the criminal investigation into the incident was ineffective.
30.  On 24 August 2010 the Judicial Department of the Russian Supreme Court informed the Dagestan Council of Judges that they had forwarded the complaint about Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov’s abduction to the prosecutor’s office.
31.  In reply to the Court’s request for a copy of the investigation file on the abduction of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov the Government produced the relevant documents, which ran to seventy-eight pages. Their contents can be summarised as follows:
32.  On 28 July 2010 the Kaspiysk prosecutor’s office initiated a criminal investigation into the abduction of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov under Article 126 § 2 of the Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping). The case file was given the number 006210.
33.  On 29 July 2010 the investigators examined the crime scene. No evidence was collected.
34.  On the same date, 29 July 2010, the investigators granted the first applicant victim status in the criminal case and questioned her. She provided a detailed description of the circumstances surrounding the abduction, including the police officers’ visit to her house in Makhachkala, and stated that she had learned from unidentified sources that her son had been detained at a base of the Dagestan CTC.
35.  On 30 July 2010 the investigators questioned the applicants’ relative Ms F.Sh., who stated that she had witnessed Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov’s abduction by a group of seven men in plain clothes, five of whom were masked. According to the witness, the abductors had opened fire and forced Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov into a black VAZ‑2107 (‘Приора’) car with the registration number either E256 or E259. The numerous neighbours who had also witnessed the abduction had later told her that the abductors had used two black VAZ-2107 cars.
36.  On 30 July 2010 the investigators questioned Ms R.A. and the second applicant, whose statements about the events were similar to that of Mr F.Sh. The second applicant added that about 15-20 minutes after the abduction two police cars had arrived at the place of the skirmish. A group of police officers, both uniformed and plain clothes, had searched the ground with flash lights looking for the spent bullet cartridges.
37.  On 2 August 2010 the head of the criminal search division of the Kaspiysk ROVD informed the investigators that they had been unable to identify any witnesses to the abduction.
38.  From the documents submitted it follows that on 12 August 2010 the head of Police Station no. 1 in Makhachkala sent the investigators letter no. 2/4298, stating that on 25 July 2010 four of their police officers, M.D., D.M., M.Z. and M.A., following the order of the Russian FSB no.6/3‑3726 of 16 June 2010 given as part of the investigation of criminal case no. 171822, had arrived at the house of the judge of the Leninskiy district of Makhachkala Mr Sh.A. to establish the whereabouts of his son Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov. The police officers had questioned the first applicant who had told them that her son and his wife were in Moscow. The police officers had not participated in Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov’s arrest.
39.  On 2 September 2010 the head of the Supervision and Control Department of the Dagestan Investigations Committee examined the criminal case file opened into the abduction. He criticised the investigators for their failure to take a number of steps, and ordered that remedial measures be taken. In particular, the document stated the following:
“... The case file examination demonstrated that the investigation is being conducted without purpose, that most important circumstances of the crime are not being established and clarified, and that the necessary steps to establish them are not being taken ...
[The applicant] Ms Abdurakhmanova stated that at about 8 p.m. on 25 July 2010 five men had arrived at her house. They had introduced themselves as servicemen from the Sovetskiy ROVD in Makhachkala. One of them named Shamil had shown her an arrest warrant for her son Mr A. Abdurakhmanov signed by the FSB investigator A. Plugin ...
Later on the same day she had learnt of her son’s abduction in Kaspiysk by unknown masked persons ... who fired weapons during the incident and absconded from the crime scene. Shortly afterwards policemen had arrived at the scene and, according to the neighbours, had collected the cartridge cases and left.
To verify Ms Abdurakhmanova’s statements it is necessary to take the following steps:
- identifying the policemen who had visited her house as well as the investigator from the Sovetskiy ROVD named Shamil ...
- questioning all the policemen in Kaspiysk who were on duty on 25 June 2010 to find out whether they were called to a scene of shooting and abduction at 29 Sovetskaya Street ...
- questioning all the witnesses, including the neighbours in Sovetskaya Street, about the events, and finding out the registration numbers of the cars used by the policemen who had arrived at the scene after the abduction ...
... in the letter from the Dagestan FSB of 4 August 2010 it is stated that the FSB had sent a letter to the Investigations Committee (no. 5/3170 of 3 July 2008) concerning Mr A. Abdurakhmanov, in which it was stated that the Dagestan Investigations Committee had been investigating case no. 6021567 concerning ... a bandit group which had planned murders of policemen in Makhachkala as well as terrorist attacks. One of that group’s members was Mr A. Abdurakhmanov ... who had maintained close contact with active members of the bandit subversive movement and had aided and abetted them. In particular, Mr A. Abdurakhmanov had sheltered in his flat armed members of the bandit subversive movement who were hiding from the authorities ...
The investigation of criminal case no. 171822 opened by the Russia FSB obtained information concerning activities of an organised armed group in Dagestan and Moscow which was aiding and abetting the armed bandit subversive movement in Dagestan ... the investigation received information concerning Mr A. Abdurakhmanov’s involvement in the activities of that group ...
In connection with the above, it is necessary that the investigators:
- write to the FSB investigator A. Plugin concerning the operational search measures to be taken against Mr A. Abdurakhmanov ...”
40.  On 20 September 2010 the FSB Investigations Department informed the investigators of the following:
“... the FSB investigations department is investigating criminal case no. 171822 concerning ... members of the illegal armed group “Imarat Kavkaz”.
Mr R.A. and Mr R.M. have been charged in the criminal case with membership of illegal armed groups ... Mr A. Abdurakhmanov is a witness to their criminal activity. In this connection, a request for operational search measures (outgoing no. 6/3-3726 of 17 June 2010) to establish his whereabouts and question him has been forwarded to the Dagestan FSB ...”
41.  On 28 September 2010 the investigators requested the Internal Security Service of the Dagestan MVD to oblige police officers M.D., D.M., M.Z. and M.A. to provide statements for the investigation concerning the abduction. The letter stated, amongst other things, that the first applicant had insisted that her son’s abduction had been perpetrated by police officers from the Dagestan CTC.
42.  On the same date, 28 September 2010, the investigation of the criminal case was suspended. The applicants were not informed thereof.
43.  On an unspecified date in October 2010 the applicants complained to the Kaspiysk Prosecutor about the investigators’ failure to take basic steps to investigate the abduction. On 14 October 2010 the applicants were informed by the Kaspiysk Prosecutor that an investigation into the abduction was in progress.
44.  On 15 November 2010 the applicants requested the investigators to take a number of actions, including questioning the heads of the Kaspiysk Town Department of the Interior (the GOVD) to find out whether any special operations had been carried out in the settlement on 25 June 2010 and the reason for the collection of the cartridge cases from the crime scene after the shooting; questioning the head of the Sovetskiy ROVD to establish the reason for the police officers’ visit to the first applicant’s house on 25 June 2010; and questioning the head of the Dagestan CTC to establish whether Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov had been taken to their premises and if so why this had been done.
45.  On 22 November 2010 the head of the Kaspiysk Investigations Department criticised the investigators for an unlawful and premature suspension of the investigation, and ordered that the investigation be resumed and a number of steps be taken.
46.  On 23 November 2010 the investigators questioned police officers M.D. and M.Z., both of whom stated that on 25 June 2010 they had visited the first applicant’s house to establish the whereabouts of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov on suspicion of his membership of illegal armed groups. The first applicant had told them that her son was not at home. The witnesses had then left the house and had subsequently learnt of the abduction from a local newspaper.
47.  On 24 November 2010 the applicants complained to the head of the Kaspiysk Investigations Department, the Dagestan Investigations Department, the Kaspiysk Prosecutor and the Dagestan Prosecutor about the investigators’ failure to take basic steps to investigate the abduction in spite of numerous pieces of evidence implicating law-enforcement officers in the crime. They requested that the investigators be ordered to expedite the investigation and identify the perpetrators.
48.  On 30 December 2010 the deputy head of the Kaspiysk Investigations Department rejected the applicants’ complaint as groundless.
49.  From the documents submitted it follows that the proceedings are still pending.
50.  On 19 July 2010 the first applicant complained to the Sovetskiy District Court of Makhachkala (the district court). She provided a detailed description of the circumstances surrounding her son’s abduction and alleged that he had been abducted by members of law-enforcement agencies. The applicant requested the district court to order the prosecutor’s office to take a number of essential investigative steps and to provide her with information concerning the whereabouts of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov.
51.  On 29 July 2010 the court requested the Dagestan MVD to inform it whether the police officers had arrested the applicants’ relative.
52.  On 12 August 2010 the Dagestan MVD replied to the court, stating the following:
“... on 25 June 2010 ... a group of officers from the ROVD, including Major M.D., Senior Lieutenants D.M. and M.Z. and Lieutenant M.A., following the investigator’s order no. 6/3-3726 of 17 June 2010 issued as part of the criminal case no. 171822 opened under Articles 186 § 1 (money counterfeiting) and 205 § 1 (terrorist activity) of the Criminal Code, visited [the first applicant’s house in Makhachkala] in order to establish the whereabouts of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov, who was suspected of committing the above crimes ...”
The letter further stated that no further information about the visit was available.
53.  On 24 August 2010 the district court rejected the applicant’s complaint of 19 July 2010. The decision stated, amongst other things, the following:
“... from the letter of the head of the Dagestan FSB Mr A.G., outgoing no. 13465 dated 2 July 2010, it follows that order no. 6/3 dated 17 June 2010 was issued by the Investigations Department of the Dagestan FSB as part of criminal case no. 171822, to establish the whereabouts of Mr Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov ... Following this order the officers of the Sovetskiy ROVD visited the home of [the first applicant] Ms A. Abdurakhmanova and took a statement from her concerning her son’s whereabouts. Their actions do not contravene Article 6 of the Federal Law “On Operational and Search Activity”....”